Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai Precision Industry) have reportedly joined forces in a bid for Toshiba Memory's business, according to a Chinese-language Liberty Times report.

According to the report, the bid could help TSMC will be able to challenge Korea-based Samsung Electronics' leadership in the flash memory market. The two companies' bidding team is currently in Japan aggressively preparing for document submission prior to the March 29 first-round bidding, the report added.

Foxconn's chairman Terry Guo has said that Foxconn is willing to assist Toshiba using the same business strategy it adopted for its partnership with Sharp. Guo also promised to keep all key technologies in Japan.

Both TSMC the Fooxconn have not commented on the report.

In January, Toshiba said it would sell a roughly 20 percent stake in its memory operations as it struggles with multibillion dollar write-downs from its nuclear power business in the United States. The company later decided to sell most of the chip business and wants to raise at least 1 trillion Yen ($8.79 billion).

On Monday, Toshiba also informed SK hynix Inc. of its new plan to sell stakes in its memory chip business.